Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1887-06-15

on the beach. Then they carefully un-
bound me- Finding l could not walk or
even stand from being so long on the
COOP. they set to work, and, after taking
off what remained off my clothes, rubbed
NV limbs till the blood got into circula-
ton Then they bound my hands be-
hind me and hurried me off through the
woods, the tall handsome fellow only
stopping to pick up the two necklaces.
Putting them both on his neck he hurried
along after us. We went through the
woods and underbrush In this manner for
an hour or two, and presently we came
out into clearing and struck into sort
of road which led by steep hill to the
other side of the island. After getting by
the hill the road led down into large,
cleared field. We turned to cross this,
and rs we did so l noticed that some parts
of the field were worn into paths which
formed the shape of a diamond. At one
end of the diamond the ground appeared
to be beaten down, and as we hurried past
noticed thin, fat bag, evidently made
of skin, lying in the apex of the triangle
formed by the paths as they came to-
gether. 1t looked for all the world like q
home plate in q base ball ground.
Umph! Impossible, ] argued to myself.
I But, as if in support of the absurd
thought, about thirty feet beyond this was
q natural fence made of canes, which had
been planted, and as they grew up,
trimmed so as to form what looked like o
fence six feet high and twenty feet long.
But the thought was preposterouS The
idea of natives on an island in the Pacific
ocean playing our national camel Alb
surdl And gave it no more thought.
CATER passing across the lot we fol-
lowed path, which ran into q road that
appeared to be singularly well travelled,
and which led to large cluster of well
built houses which could see in the dis
lance. AS we got nearer we were met by
q crowd of natives. Amid the chatter OF
the natives l was hurried across little
square green to the front of hut, which
was apparently built better than the ma
jority.
81 knew at once that their king lived
here, and my heart grew faint as l con-
cetved that was to be presented to the
king for his decision, and as 1 thought of
the reputed ferocity of the South Sea
islanders, most likely death. The curtain
at the entrance was suddenly drawn aside
and my guides pushed me forward into
the hut, while they remained outside and
closed the curtain.
''The hut was lit up well by an aper-
ture in the side of the building, and across
the room in a corner saw a figure which
was strangely familiar to me engaged in
what thought Out put the idea away
as untenable) was the winding of what
appeared to me as broken baseball bat.
/ coughed and the figure Strengthened up,
looked at me moment and came toward
me with outstretched hands. AS he came
by the window saw him with great dis
tinctness. 1t was John J. Jones.
''To be sure, he was some fifty years
older than when last saw him, but as he
was clean shaver recognized his peculiar
and clear cut features in an instant. He
did not recognize me and introduced my
self, and for the rest of that day we
snapped congratulations, ETC., and
talked myself hoarse in telling how the
world had progressed since he buried him
self on that little island some fifty years
before All of sudden l remembered l
was doing all the talking, and asked him
what under the world he was doing, way
off there OH a little two by nine island,
living with lot of cannibals.
"'They are not cannibals, said John j.,
'they are people who I have had under
my eye for fifty years, in furtherance of
scheme thought of while breeding trot-
tiers down in Connecticut. Icame out
here, and settling on this island, by judi
ciously giving presents to natives rounda-
bout, got some forty or fifty families to
settle with me, and haye brought my
scheme to perfection. But say, he sud
denly broke in, what is the popular game
in the United States now?'
%a1l n hoC ho1 IN INN n
his feet threw his cocoanut hat into the
Sir, and hurrahed until nearly black in
the face, and some of the natives came
was getting killed. He drove them out
with base ball bat, and continued:
"'While raising those fat hogs and that
prize OK, you remember, thought to my
self: If / can select the finest animals of
a certain kind, trotting horses for in
stance, and breed still better trotters,
why can't select suitable people, train
them to particular duty, select the most
capable, mate them and after a while pro-
duce people to whom that duty will be
second nature9 ] acted at once on the
suggestion, and am happy to say have,
succeeded
"'Why,' said !, some few years ago q
Mr.. Darwin expounded these views, and
they are now universally held by all
people. By the way, what kind Of duty
have you brought them up to9'
Baseball answered John J. Jones.
II gasped. And then I told him to
what extent the game had developed; how
high priced the players were and so on.
John J.'s face flushed with delight, and
he told me he'd got eighteen men and two
umpires drilled so that they could do
everything. Said he'd tell me the next
day when they went to the grounds to
practice" And the Ancient Mariner
raised himself an inch or so, rolled the
ball over so as to find a softer spot, and
begging chew Of tobacco sat down again
and continued!
'"The next morning, after breakfast Of
boiled rice, stewed monkey and drink
made from sour cocoanut milk, we set OF
for the baseball grounds.
"While the mines were playing their
practice games John j. explained his
troubles and triumphs in the past fifty
years. He said after he got settled he
chose twenty of the best built boys and
girls and set them to work playing ball;
made 'em keep at it; all they did was to
sleep, eat and play ball. In that warm
SOuuGLJt uc LO1u AuC, Iucy beG HldEElCu dU
the age of 10, and in the fifty years he
had been there he had raised four genera
tions of baseball players. Every genera
ton would be better and better, and he
chose the best players from each genera
ton, mated them, kept them in the same
positions in the baseball practice, andas
result, he told me, he had eighteen players
and two umpires that he would back
against the world.
''The practice game was soon through.
He said he had one pitcher-the fellow
who won the necklace-who could take
one of their ordinary base balls the good
ones were turned from ironwood), get
man to hold out a bat over the home plate,
and he could give one of his regular de-
liveries, and cut that bat in two, about a
foot from the but end, as if it had been
taken off with cannon ball.
'But it was while going back to the
village that John J. told me story that
really does seem as il it might be little
stretched. 1t was about the umpires; said
he had the hardest work toughening 'em
up; almost gave the idea up one while.
Said hn hotharnd hiS hpod n 1opop TINA